Ramsbottom v Rawtenstall

A CUT eye, a bloody nose, a black eye and lots of bruised pride all needed nursing after Ramsbottom were held to tie against neighbours Rawtenstall.

The last over of a see-sawing contest saw the Acre Bottom side throw away a victory that had seemed a formality just minutes earlier.

But it is dangerous to predict anything in cricket - especially on an unpredictable wicket!

Ramsbottom went into the last over in the gathering gloom wobbling but looking comfortable enough.

They needed four to win and had five wickets in hand. Rawtenstall called on experienced spin bowler Keith Roscoe to try and keep them in check.

A single off the first ball and two off the second meant the scores were level. The home side needed just one to win the game with four balls left.

What could be easier?

Gary Dyson blocked the next two but, when he went for the big hit off the penultimate ball, he was stumped leaving Mark Dentith one ball to become a hero.

To spice things up Roscoe ran up to bowl but, instead of delivering the ball he ran out non-striker Alan Howarth, who was backing up some way down the track.

Given out, the players made to leave the field amid uproar and no little confusion.

Roscoe, though, called Howarth back and the final ball was delivered again.

Dentith came down the track to try and smight it but didn't get bat on ball and he too was stumped. Roscoe was clearly delighted and made no apologies for his attempt to run out Howarth: "He was well down the track and with them only needing one I had to do it.

"It was nice to be bowling then because all the pressure was on the batsmen.

"They had to try and hit it and as a bowler all you can do is keep the ball up to the bat and hope if they make contact it goes to a fielder."

The result, coming after a win over Ramsbottom a week earlier, was a real boost to the morale of the league's bottom-placed side.

"We aren't bottom of the league through lack of effort," said Roscoe. "And while results haven't been good the spirit in the side is good.

"You could see that today. The lads never gave up fighting even when it looked bad for us."

The drama started in the fifth over when Ramsbottom wicketkeeper Richard Hevingham was hit in the eye from a Chris Harris ball that took off from a length. Hevingham was helped off the field and needed hospital treatment for cuts above and below the eye.

It was a measure of how much the ball was popping up that stand-in keeper Mark Dentith called for a helmet when he stood up to Harris. It seemed an ideal track for the Kiwi to wreak havoc but he was held up by Rawtenstall's paid man Ian Hewett, who produced his best batting of the season.

Hewett hit 62 and shared in a stand of 83 with Jamie Carter (33) which should have provided Rawtenstall with the platform to produce a more testing target.

Instead the slumped from 134-3 to 139-9 and eventually set a target of 152 - Harris finishing with a tidy 6-68.

Ian Bell, who had been hit in the face while fielding went early, but Hewett, who bowls a notch or two faster than Harris didn't get the same assistance from the pitch and although he dismissed the Kiwi cheaply Ramsbottom were cruising to victory.

In fact Hewett was another who will be nursing shiner today. He collided with the helmet of short leg Carter when the pair went for a catch that, to add insult to injury, wasn't given.

Brian Taylor (65) and Chris Hall (39) took Ramsbottom to the brink of victory but the winning line proved 22-yards too far!

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